Women in PR Ghana on March 8, 2023 celebrated International Women’s Day with the Corporate Communications Division of MTN Ghana at their Media Centre at Ridge in Accra.
The event provided a forum for young professionals to interact, learn and network with seasoned communications professionals of MTN Ghana.
The five-lady panel of the MTN Communications team was led by Georgina Asare Fiagbenu – Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, and included Efua Falconer – Manager, Corporate Communications; Afua Serwaa Asafo-Adjei – Communication Advisor-Media Relations, Olivia Mifetu – Internal Communications and Sophia Tandoh – Regulatory Advisor at MTN Ghana.
The event was moderated by Lorrencia Adam Nkrumah, the external Affairs and Internal Communications Coordinator of Barry Callebaut and was on the theme “DIGITALL: Embracing Innovation and Technology as PR Women.”
The ladies shared among other things their work life experiences with a focus on managing and protecting the reputation of their organization as a means of achieving the organization’s goals. To them, this also meant planning and working with a strategy to ensure that their aim was met.
The team also elaborated on how disagreements among them are more geared toward the development of the organization. They agreed that what their organization wants to achieve should be the ultimate and as such they are more open to accepting the final decisions of the senior manager when there seems to be disagreements.
In line with the theme for the day, Efua Falconer, highlighted how digital technologies has made the work of a PR Practitioner easier and helped with constant engagements. “For PR, these innovations are helping us do constant engagements. It’s not like just sitting in your office and drafting and press release, let’s engage, you post a story and somebody is able to ask questions and you are able to respond in real time”.
The Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, Georgina Asare Fiagbenu emphasized on the need to ask questions and be ready to learn on the job. She stated that: “To be able to get your communications right, you have to ask questions. It means that you want to know more and it makes you confident in your communication”. She again emphasized the need for the younger generation to take advantage of events like this, read and develop their skills in order to add up to their employability status because, “no one will employ you because you are a Gen Z”.
Olivia Mifetu, who is responsible for internal communications also advised that young people should have mentors who would be responsible to guide them in their career path.
Mrs. Georgina Asare Fiagbenu admonished the students and entry level professionals to be focused on building their skills and be intentional about the relationships they build. “Don’t be anxious about your future, but be constructive with what you’re working on and the skills you are building”, she said. She added that the young ones should be keen about always learning and discovering themselves in order to create a niche that will make them stand out from the many.
The event was attended by professionals and students of the public relations and Communications industry.
Women in Public Relations Ghana was established in 2017 as a professional networking organization committed to educating, mentoring and empowering female PR professionals and students.
To know more about Women in PR Ghana and our membership, kindly visit our website at www.womeninprghana.org or email at [email protected]
To commemorate 2022 International Women’s Day celebration, Women in PR Ghana hosted the Managing Partners of Mahogany Consult, Esi Asante Antwi and Baaba Cofie for “An Evening Under the Mahogany Tree”
The event was moderated by Faith Senam Ocloo who is also the founder of Women in PR Ghana and was held to celebrate their 10th Anniversary while highlighting the theme for this year’s IWD “Break the Bias”
The two shared among other things their entrepreneurial journey, challenges running their PR Agency, being 2 females partnering a business, family, leadership and more importantly how they are breaking the bias as female leaders.
Esi Asante Antwi encouraged women not to settle in whatever situation they found ourselves. She said, “Let’s not settle, let’s give ourselves the time to take care of the children, the family, to recuperate from a medical situation but let’s not settle in there’
Baaba Cofie on the other hand advised women to align on their values before venturing into a business partnership because women can work together. She stated, “using us as examples, women can work together and can do whatever it is that they can do together”. She added that, as an organization, they believe in mentoring, shaping, and training the next generation of communication experts.
Faith Senam at the end of an insightful conversation applauded both Esi Asante Antwi and Baaba Cofie for breaking the bias and being an inspiration to many young women and professionals in the public relations industry. She expressed her gratitude to them for partnering this year’s International Women’s Day event and willing to share their experiences and lessons.
The event was attended by professionals and students in the communications and public relations industry.
Women in Public Relations Ghana was established since 2017 as a professional networking organization committed to educating, mentoring and empowering female PR professionals and students.
To catch up on the discussion, find the full video available on both Mahogany Consult and Women in PR Ghana Facebook pages. To also know more about Women in PR Ghana and our membership, kindly visit our website at www.womeninprghana.org or email at [email protected]
